Watsco, Inc. (NYSE:WSO) Short Interest Update

Watsco, Inc. (NYSE:WSO) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totaling 3,667,025 shares, an increase of 25.6% from the March 31st total of 2,918,875 shares. Currently, 10.4% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 481,208 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 7.6 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on WSO. Stephens lifted their price objective on shares of Watsco from $475.00 to $485.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Mizuho set a $425.00 price objective on shares of Watsco in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Watsco from $460.00 to $370.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Watsco in a research note on Monday, January 5th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $370.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Watsco from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $399.83.

Institutional Trading of Watsco

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of WSO. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Watsco by 103.1% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 4,642,893 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,564,423,000 after purchasing an additional 2,356,998 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Watsco by 60,779.4% in the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 599,662 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $202,056,000 after purchasing an additional 598,677 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Watsco in the fourth quarter valued at about $110,853,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Watsco by 202.6% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 472,182 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $159,102,000 after purchasing an additional 316,129 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP lifted its holdings in shares of Watsco by 12,054.4% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 173,078 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $69,975,000 after purchasing an additional 171,654 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.71% of the company’s stock.

Watsco Stock Performance

WSO stock traded down $8.28 during trading on Friday, reaching $429.56. 345,064 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 522,136. The company has a market cap of $17.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.65 and a beta of 1.12. Watsco has a 52-week low of $323.05 and a 52-week high of $496.25. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $398.25 and its 200 day moving average price is $376.93.

Watsco (NYSE:WSO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The construction company reported $1.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.73 by $0.14. Watsco had a net margin of 6.85% and a return on equity of 15.31%. The company had revenue of $1.53 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.49 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.93 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Watsco will post 12.62 EPS for the current year.

Watsco Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 16th were issued a $3.30 dividend. This represents a $13.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.1%. This is a boost from Watsco’s previous quarterly dividend of $3.00. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 16th. Watsco’s payout ratio is currently 109.00%.

Watsco Company Profile

Watsco, Inc is the largest distributor of heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration (HVAC/R) equipment, parts and supplies in the United States. Headquartered in Miami, Florida, the company operates a network of more than 600 branches across the continental U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico. Watsco serves residential and commercial contractors by providing essential components for climate control systems, including air conditioners, furnaces, heat pumps, coils, refrigerants, controls and electrical and piping supplies.

Founded in 1947, Watsco has grown from a single regional distributor into an industry leader through a combination of organic expansion, acquisitions and strategic partnerships with original equipment manufacturers such as Carrier, Trane, Goodman and Lennox.